That has been true for probably 25 years. Companies like Qualcomm, Broadcom, Atheros, as well as Intel, AMD, etc. have powerful software tools that let you describe a chip at a high level and poof, it’s designed and laid out on silicon for you. Like you want a QAM modulator or demodulator block, or an error correction block, or RAM or an ARM processor, just provide the specs and click the compile button.
You also see these fabless design shops appear out of seemingly nowhere, like DesignArt Networks, this would not be possible without software tools and Taiwanese fab houses. The tools for FPGA design are somewhat similar, and you can also push a button and convert an FPGA to an ASIC (while losing the ability to make changes). But Intel is not about to start using FPGAs for their processor chips, nor is Qualcomm about to use FPGAs for their cellphone chips. I knew the two Henrys who founded Broadcom back when they were still at Pairgain and were not yet billionaires. They had developed software tools for automatically designing communications functions from a high level description and turning them into microelectronics, and when PairGain didn’t support turning this into a standalone business, they left and started Broadcom. From: That One Guy Sent: Thursday, January 08, 2015 9:57 AM To: [email protected] Subject: Re: [AFMUG] interesting telrad video I watched a video from an ASIC designer, I dont claim to know much on the design end, but he said ASIC is not as cost prohibitive as before because of these companys that have layers, or something to that effect, basically similar to the OSI model in networking, where you order an ASIC with everything prebuild and only build your own layer for your purpose. FPGAs have so much generic to them there is alot of wasted horsepower. The video made me wish I had stayed in school because it just screamed that there is money to be made for EEs in that field. On Thu, Jan 8, 2015 at 9:48 AM, Chuck McCown <[email protected]> wrote: FPGAs can be reprogrammed. And they, in theory, can do everything an ASIC can do. But ASICs are not able to be changed (at least they could not when I was working with them, that has been a few years ago). From: Ken Hohhof Sent: Thursday, January 08, 2015 8:43 AM To: [email protected] Subject: Re: [AFMUG] interesting telrad video Painting ASICs as an old, failed approach and FPGAs as the future seems a little strange. From: That One Guy Sent: Thursday, January 08, 2015 9:37 AM To: [email protected] Subject: [AFMUG] interesting telrad video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dzAkMGKT5_M I feel like there might be some koolaid here somewhere -- All parts should go together without forcing. You must remember that the parts you are reassembling were disassembled by you. Therefore, if you can't get them together again, there must be a reason. By all means, do not use a hammer. -- IBM maintenance manual, 1925 -- All parts should go together without forcing. You must remember that the parts you are reassembling were disassembled by you. Therefore, if you can't get them together again, there must be a reason. By all means, do not use a hammer. -- IBM maintenance manual, 1925
